Psychology Commons^™

Estimating The Utility Of Job Performance The Influence Of The Delphi Technique And Behavioral Examples On Supervisors' Estimates, Scott I. Tannenbaum

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Methods for estimating the standard deviation of performance in dollars (SDy) proposed by Schmidt, Hunter, McKenzie, and Muldrow (1979) (referred to as S & H) and by Burke and Frederick (1984) (referred to as B & F) were compared with a modified procedure which incorporated the Delphi and critical incident methodologies (referred to as Delphi). Sixty-four nursing managers were randomly assigned to one of the three methods. They provided estimates for the jobs of registered nurse and licensed practical nurse. The three methods yielded similar estimates, were equally sensitive to differences between the jobs, and conformed to the assumptions of …

Flotation Vs Chamber Rest A Comparison Of Techniques And Their Differential Effects On Relaxation And Self Disclosure, Francis Tony Hagan

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Developing more or less simultaneously over the last thirty years, water immersion/floatation restricted environmental stimulation techniques (REST) and chamber REST, came to be recognized as two of the most effective methods of minimizing external stimulation to the physical senses. These two environments were compared in a controlled study of 36 male undergraduates, for indications of reduced blood pressure and reductions in self-reported stress. In addition, the participants were assessed for post-treatment differences in self-disclosure, or willingness to share personal information about themselves. Results indicated that for a single one hour session, individuals in the floatation environment achieved significant reductions in …

Attributions Of Martial Conflict Among College Students, Gary Franklin Sigler

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

A study of single college student attitudes toward conflict was conducted to determine the attributions (internal versus external) they make regarding marital conflict scenarios (of mild to moderate to extreme severity). Between group differences of persons from divorced versus non-divorced homes were predicted as I well as sex differences with men making more external and females making more internal attributions. As expected, female actors did score higher than male actors on internal attribution. And females from both groups did rate the scenarios as more serious than males from both groups, as indicated by their higher mean rating of seriousness. However, …

Social Support Networks: The Effects Of Sex And Personality Variables On Utilization Of Resources, S. Dee Treschuk

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of sex and various personality characteristics on the utilization of social support resources for four types of problems (day to day problems, "most serious" problem, emotional and material problems). An interview format was used in order to assess actual events in peoples' lives. Chi-square tests were performed to determine significant differences. Gender differences were found in the use of specific network members for day to day problems. As predicted, females utilized the family more than males; and males named "no one" more than females. For emotional problems, females utilized "love" …

The Relationship Between Response Variability And Interview Contrast Effects, Salvatore John Cesare

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The low reliability and validity of the interview has lead to research aimed at improving its effectiveness. One such strategy is the microanalytic approach developed by Mayfield (1964). This approach centers on the decision—making processes errors made by the interviewer. One type of error is the contrast effect. A contrast effect is that situation where the rating given to an applicant is contingent upon the quality of preceding applicants. This study used a 3 X 3 (Induced Set X Target Applicant) factorial design to assess how different amounts of response variability by an average applicant can influence contrast effects. Subjects …

Effects Of Ethanol On Stimulus Properties Of D-Amphetamine, Michaela Arango

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The drug discrimination paradigm was used to investigate the effects of combinations of d-amphetamine sulfate (amph) and alcohol (etoh). Rats were trained to discriminate between the stimulus properties of 1.2 mg/kg amph and non-drug treatment in a two-lever food-motivated operant task. Once trained, rats were tested with .3 mg/kg amph, and showed an intermediate level of "amphetamine" responding. Combinations of this test dose with etoh 150 mg/kg or 300 mg/kg produced significantly increased amph-appropriate responding. This potentiation of the amph cue tended to be higher at etoh 150 mg/kg. The administration of etoh (150 or 300 mg/kg) alone did not …

A Perception Based Integrative Theory Of Individual Behavior In Organizations, John Edward Mathieu

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop an integrative theoretical approach to the study of individuals' behavior in organizations, and to present an application of the approach to understanding the performance of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets. Individuals' perceptions of the environment were proposed to exist at three levels of analysis: (1) psychological climate (i.e., individual); (2) group climate; and organizational climate. Further, climate perceptions were proposed to result from the simultaneous influence of objective (i.e., actual) situational characteristics, and individuals' needs and characteristics. The underlying dimensions that linked climate perceptions operationalized at the three levels of analysis …

Age Tracking Performance And The Measurement Of Workload By A Secondary Tasks, Manuel Francisco Diaz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate age differences in tracking performance and in the amount of workload imposed by the tracking task. Twelve subjects between the ages of 18 and 22, and 12 subjects between the ages of 48 and 67 performed a serial, choice-reaction-time task alone and concurrently with a pursuit rotor tracking task. The choice reaction time task served as the secondary task and the pursuit rotor tracking task as the primary task. Primary task performance was measured by time on target and number of tracking errors, and the secondary task by choice reaction time and …

A Comparison And Integration Of Expectancy Theory And Task Dimensions With Rotc Cadets, Steven B. Woods

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Recent reviews of the empirical literature investigating expectancy theory and task design research suggest that little attempt has been made to conduct strong, inferential research in which various theories of this type are compared and/or integrated. The primary focus of the present study was to evaluate systematically and compare expectancy theory and a job characteristic approach. Analyses of 117 Army ROTC cadets offered support for the ability of both the VIE model and task dimensions to predict satisfaction and self-ratings of performance for cadets. Generally, however, the task dimensions and VIE cognitions were unsupportive for predictions of peer and instructor …

The Effect Of Anonymity, Expectation Of Validation, And Expected Reward, On The Accuracy Of Self-Evaluations Of Ability, Mark Stanley Teachout

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of anonymity, expectation of validation, and expected reward on the accuracy of self-evaluations of ability. One-hundred twenty undergraduate students were administered a reading test measuring reading abilities. The participants then made self-evaluations regarding their performance on the reading test. Participants received instructions designed to manipulate the expectation that their performance scores on the reading test would serve to validate their self-evaluations. Additional instructions manipulated the anonymity or identifiability of self-evaluations and the expected reward related to self-evaluations. Participants who expected their identifiable self-evaluations to be validated were accurate. In contrast, …

Task Performances As Functions Of Level Of Processing, Morningness-Eveningness, Time Of Day, And Gender, Georgia Kathryn Green

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study was undertaken to examine the relations between human circadian activity patterns and information processing. Eighty subjects selected on the basis of gender and circadian type performed a digit-sequence task and an analogies task in either a morning or an afternoon condition, having previously completed the Horne and Ostberg (1976) circadian type questionnaire and the Schmeck (1983) Inventory of Learning Processes. A significant Gender x Circadian Type x Time-of-Day Condition interaction was found for digit-sequence task performance, with female subjects' performances exhibiting morning condition superiority for morning types but evening condition superiority for evening types. Time and gender effects …

The Effects Of Training And Rating Formats On The Accuracy Of Performance Ratings, Todd A. Silverhart

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The effects of frame of reference training and rating formats on the accuracy of performance ratings were examined utilizing direct measures of accuracy in addition to commonly used measures of rating biases. Participants were 111 undergraduate students who were randomly assigned to one of six treatment conditions formed by crossing two levels of training (training, no-training) with three rating formats (graphic rating scale, behaviorally anchored rating scale, mixed standard scale). Ratings were made of the videotaped performance of interviewers conducting selection interviews. These ratings ~ere compared with the mean ratings of "expert raters" to give measures of rating biases (leniency/severity, …

The Electrocortical Correlates Of Fluctuating States Of Attention During Vigilance Tasks, Stephen G. Cunningham

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study investigated the electrocortical correlates of attention. Sixteen subjects (seven females, nine males) engaged in a forty-minute target-detection vigilance task. In addition to the demands of the vigilance task, the subjects were asked to press a button during the vigilance task if they had experienced task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs) or daydreams. Continuous electroencephalograms (EEG) were recorded from the subjects during the entire task. During the vigilance task, task-irrelevant tones were presented every 2-4 seconds. Event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by these tones were generated.

The task was divided into four ten-minute periods. The analysis of the performance data indicated performance decrements …

Facilitating And Hindering Factors In Implementing Managerial Technology: A Socio-Technical System Process, Eduardo Alejandro Salas Garcia

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

In recent years scientists, researchers and practitioners have focused on the application and theory of managerial technologies in developing countries. Evidence suggests that the implementation of these technologies is widely sought in these countries, but that they suffer from several limitations. Among these are: (a) lack of environmental compatibility in the societies and cultures in which attempts are made to apply such organizational theories and practices; (b) differences between economic systems of developing nations and industrialized nations (c) differences in political history, values and practices and (d) differences in organizational functioning and behavior as a result of these three conditions. …

Effects Of Encoding Variety And Concurrent-Task Practice On The Transfer And Retention Of Complex Skill, Peter S. Winne

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study investigated the effects of dual-task practice and the variety of problems solved during practice on (a) the acquisition of procedural and declarative skills and the development of concurrent-task skills, and (b) the utilization and maintenance of two types of strategies. Strategies were defined as the use of different mixes of skills pertaining to procedures and specific declarative solutions. Two tasks--mental arithmetic and trigrams--were used to examine problem-solving skills and strategies both immediately following practice and again under delayed conditions. Eighty subjects were randomly assigned to one of four practice conditions by factorially combining practice mode (single- or …

Conditioned Motor Activity And Place-Preference Responses As A Function Of D-Amphetamine Dose Level, Dwight D. Hart

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Spontaneous motor activity (SMA) responses to stimuli predicting d-amphetamine injection were investigated in a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm. Three groups (saline, 1.0mg/kg and 4.0mg/kg doses) of rats underwent a 12-day period during which Injection-Conditioning and Non-Injection Conditioning treatments were alternated. This sequence was then followed by two Test/Extinction Days on which all three groups received saline injections. Subjects in the 4.0mg/kg, but not the 1.0mg/kg group were more active during the 30 minute pre-injection period on the second Conditioning Day than were Saline Group subjects. Test Day post-injection SMA levels of the two Drugged Groups were not significantly different, but the …

The Effects Of Person-Job Environment Congruency On Individual And Organizational Outcomes, Eileen J. Mcdonald

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to ascertain the effects of person-job environment congruency on outcomes important to individuals and organizations, so that new personnel decision making strategies can be developed. To accomplish these aims, the research had two objectives: (1) to develop an operational model of person-job environment congruency based on an integration of available research evidence and (2) to investigate the effectiveness of the concepts and methods proposed by the model on individual and organizational criteria of success.

Within a person-job environment congruency model framework, there are essentially two matching systems. In the first, the work experiences of …

Oculometric Indices Of Simulator And Aircraft Motion, James Raymond Comstock Jr.

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

In a series of three experiments on the effects on eye-scan behavior of both simulator and aircraft motion, the sensitivity of an oculometric measure to motion effects was demonstrated. "Fixation Time", defined as the time the eyes spend at a particular location before moving on (saccade) to another fixation point, was found to be sensitive to motion effects in each of the experiments conducted. The first experiment studied differences between simulator motion and no-motion conditions during a series of simulated Instrument Landing System (ILS) approaches. The mean fixation time for the no-motion condition was found to be significantly longer than …

The Effects Of Goal And Feedback Specificity Of Task Performance, Emily Johnson Hawes

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

A three (goal type and level) by three (type and level of knowledge of results) factorial design was implemented with nine subjects per cell. Goal factor levels were: Numeric goal, percentage increase goal, and do best goal. Knowledge of results (KR) factor levels were: Numeric KR, percentage increase/decrease KR and no KR. KR manipulations affected perceived knowledge of performance standing„ but there were no significant effects on performance. Goal effects on performance were significant (p

Employee Perceptions Of Performance Appraisal Systems: Causal Determinants Of Fairness, Accuracy, And Acceptability, Michael Dale Secunda

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop an initial model of employee perceptions of performance appraisal systems which would integrate available literature and provide a point of departure for future research endeavors. To accomplish these goals, this study had three objectives: (1) integrate the large body of literature to develop constructs that adequately describe employee perceptions of appraisal processes and systems, (2) integrate these constructs into a causal model that is consistent with current literature, and (3) test the model using linear structural modeling.

Seven constructs hypothesized as representing various aspects of employee perceptions were conceptualized and operationalized, and …

Stress Appraisals And Performance In An Academic Setting, Michele Terranova

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Stressful appraisals and performance were measured in an achievement-oriented setting. The coping disposition of sensitization, locus of control, and specific attribution for control were expected to influence both the stress appraisal process and the outcome of performance. Assessment of students' subjective stress levels, personality variables, and attributions for control were obtained at the beginning of a difficult class required for a major in psychology. Those students perceiving that the outcome of the course would depend on their ability and effort displayed significantly less subjective stress. Performance measures, as indicated by a grade on a paper with the students' grade point …

Locus Of Control As A Function Membership In Alcoholics Anonymous, Christine B. Philput

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

This study was undertaken to examine locus of control in recovering members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Variables that might affect locus of control, such as sex, age, job, previous psychiatric treatment, and length of membership in AA were examined. One hundred and fifty-three members of AA took the 24-item Levenson IPC (L-IPC) Scale, and a one-page questionnaire covering the variables of interest. A control group of 212 also took the L-IPC along with the Rotter, Nowicki-Strickland, and Marlowe-Crowne scales. Results reveal that AA members were more external than controls on the I subscale, more internal on the P subscale, and …

The Development Of Learned Helplessness In Retarded And Non-Retarded Children, Jennifer Miller Schwartz

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Studies have suggested that, when mental ages are equal, mentally retarded children exhibit more symptoms of learned helplessness following experience with failure than do non-retarded children, i.e., low IQ, leads to helplessness. The present study hypothesized that IQ alone did not lead to helplessness, but that chronological age played an important role in its development. It was thought that perhaps the different levels of helplessness present in the two populations was due to the age difference necessary to make their mental ages equivalent. To test this possibility, l05 retarded, average and bright children (MA= 5.25 - 17.33 years; CA= 6.25 …

The Effects Of Amphetamine And Ethanol On Habituation Of Exploratory Responses Of Rats In Novel And Familiar Environments, Kuen-Teng Kao

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

To study the relationship between level of arousal and rate of habituation in rats, the current research manipulated arousal level using sedatives (ethanol 200 and 600 mg/kg) and stimulants(d-amphetamine 0.6 and 2.4 mg/kg). Furthermore, in order to investigate the possible contributions of differences in familiarity of the subjects with the test environment in producing discrepant reports about arousal-habituation relationships, half of the rats were tested in a completely novel cage without saline- pre-injection, while the other half were repeatedly given salinepreinjections and exposures to the test cage. Habituation was measured mainly as rate of change of responding level; i.e. slope …

Social Sensitivity In Adolescents And Adults With Learning Disabilities, Patricia Anne Jarvis

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to investigate social sensitivity and self-concept in students with learning disabilities and their non-disabled peers. Thirty students each from Junior and Senior public high schools and a community college in Tidewater, Virginia participated in the study with 15 learning disabled and 15 non-disabled students from each of the three grade levels (N-90). Students were individually assessed in 50 minute interviews for their accuracy in interpreting the thoughts and feelings of actors in tape-recorded stories depicting two adults in happy, angry, anxious, and sad interactions. A questionnaire measuring self-concept in learning situations as a …

Effects Of The Rater's Sex And Sex-Role Orientation And The Applicant's Physical Attractiveness Sex And Qualifications On Resume Evaluation, Robert N. Kilcullen

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Androgynous college students (16 males and 16 females) and sex-typed college students (16 males and 16 females) rated the resumes of fictitious applicants for a managerial position. The applicant's physical attractiveness, qualifications, and sex were systematically varied in the resumes. Five-way analyses of variance were performed on the hiring rankings of the applicants and the perceived attractiveness, masculinity, femininity, and social desirability of the applicants. The sex and attractiveness of the applicants significantly affected the hiring decisions, but not as strongly as did the applicant's qualifications. For hiring decisions, the subjects' sex-role orientation moderated the effect of the applicant's attractiveness …

An Error-Dependent Model Of Instrument-Scanning Behavior In Commercial Airline Pilots, Dennis H. Jones

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Since the work of Fitts and his colleagues, researchers have been using eye-movement data to evaluate various aspects of pilot instrument scanning behavior. Although Senders' work indicated that link values and transitional probabilities could be accurately predicted using a random sampling process, several investigators have recently suggested that pilot scanning behavior was deterministic. However, there has been no clear empirical evidence to support a deterministic hypothesis. The present research presents a new flexible model of pilot instrument scanning behavior which assumes that the pilot uses a set of deterministic scanning patterns on (1) the pilot's perception of error in the …

Influence Of Touch And Preferences For Control On Visual Behavior, Teresa Whitehurst Caudill

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study investigated the effects of touch, as mediated by the preference for control (PC) of the recipient, upon visual behavior as well as evaluative and affective responses. Subjects were female students at Old Dominion University, selected on the basis of their scores on the Expressed Control subscale of the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation (FIRO-B) Inventory (Schutz, 1958). Based upon their scores on the subscale, 29 females scoring high and 30 females scoring low were randomly assigned to either touch or no touch conditions. Subjects in the touch condition were touched on the arm by a male confederate after …

Effects Of Aperiodic Noise On Serial Reaction: A Study Of The Range And Consistency Of Individual Differences With Repeated Measures, Stephen Victor Strunk

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The range and consistency of individual differences in response to two exposures of aperiodic-intermittent noise were examined. A computerized 5-choice serial reaction task was used to measure the number of correct responses and mean reaction times for each of 30 subjects during the two exposures to quiet and noise. The results indicate that (1) noise presented even for short durations can have adverse effects on performance; (2) individuals do perform consistently in terms of accuracy across exposures to noise; and (3) a wide range of performance changes can be expected from subjects performing a task under noise. Implications for the …

Children's Representation Of Spatial Information, Rebecca L. Beard

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study utilized a multi-dimensional approach to examine children's communication of spatial information. Sixty male and female elementary school children, ages 6-7, 9-10, and 11-12, learned a route through a pedestrian maze with four color-coded inter sections and animal photographs to serve as landmarks. After learning the route to a specified criterion level, the children were required to complete three remaining tasks: a verbal recall task, a nonverbal reconstruction task, and a route reversal task. For each task the children were asked to provide a reason for their directional choice at each intersection. Analyses indicated developmental differences in performance …